North Allegheny girls volleyball unfazed by early losses

By: John Grupp
Saturday, September 6, 2025 | 11:01 AM

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North Allegheny girls volleyball has way too much hardware to let a little slump get it down.

One day after the program’s first back-to-back losses in almost 11 years, the eight-time defending state champion Tigers held an energetic, upbeat practice inside the high school’s main gym.

“Losing is always bad, but losing now is better than losing later,” all-state junior outside hitter Molly Robertson said after the Aug. 29 session. “We’re going to work hard to win out.”

North Allegheny (0-2), ranked No. 1 in the PA coaches’ preseason poll, opened the season with losses at Morgantown (W.Va.), 3-1, on Aug. 26 and at Oakland Catholic, 3-2, on Aug. 28. They were the first back-to-back losses since September 2014 for a program that is 206-9 in the past 10 seasons and is seeking an unprecedented ninth straight PIAA title.

“The first two matches, I think we were playing a little individually,” senior setter Keely McMahon-Regan said. “We’ve got to focus on playing together and working on everybody doing their jobs.”

The early-season defeats were startling.

North Allegheny had returned a pair of all-state juniors, Penn State-bound Robertson and middle hitter Alicia Mokube, along with a solid core from last year’s 21-1 WPIAL and PIAA Class 4A champion.

The Tigers are trying to become the first program to win nine consecutive PIAA championships in any sport, boys or girls. They are tied with Norwin girls volleyball, which won eight in a row from 1976-83, and District 1 Villa Maria Academy girls swimming, which won eight straight from 2011-18.

NA coach Russ Hoburg downplayed his team’s historic quest for nine in a row. The Tigers, who were scheduled to host Shaler on Sept. 4, have won six of the past eight WPIAL titles, including the past two.

“It’s cool to have that opportunity, but, honestly, that’s such a large-picture thing,” said Hoburg, in his fifth season. “Right now, what is ailing us is such minute details, and our focus is improving each day.”

The Tigers graduated six players from last year’s team, including all-state libero Macey Casten and a pair of all-section hitters. They also have switched from a two-setter 6-2 offense to a 5-1 one-setter attack.

“We were ready today to work on the things that we knew we needed to work on,” said senior libero Reagan Riordan, a returning second-team all-section pick. “We did that, and I feel like we are going to continue to do that.”

The losses, at least, were to quality opponents. Morgantown, which beat NA 28-26, 25-22, 21-25, 25-20, was the 2024 state runner-up in West Virginia’s largest classification. Oakland Catholic, which won 25-18, 23-25, 20-25, 25-23, 15-13, is regarded as one of top teams in the WPIAL Class 3A.

“We have to understand that the target is squarely on our backs,” Hoburg said. “We are going to get the best out of every team on every night. We definitely saw that from Oakland (Catholic). They played great, and they deserved to win.

“We talked about it at practice, just kind of owning it. We’re not going to run from it or blame anyone. It’s just where we are at right now so we’ve got to work through it.”

The Tigers will have plenty of big matches to turn things around. Section foes North Catholic, ranked No. 3 in the state, and Pine-Richland are two of the top teams in the WPIAL. The Tigers also have tournaments at Upper St. Clair, Cumberland Valley and Bishop Gilmour Academy (Ohio) and will host the NA Invitational on Sept. 27.

“We took (the slow start) as a little bit of a wake-up call,” Mokube said. “There are certain things that we need to work on. I think being steady throughout the entire game and being calm, but still being urgent, is a big thing.”

Others in the rotation include senior outside hitter Geneva Adams, a third-team all-section pick; 6-foot sophomore middle blocker Paige Shanahan; defensive specialists Keira Duffy, a junior, and Dede Alualu, a senior; and a pair of outside hitters, senior Catie Cooper and junior Luana Tripon.

The 5-foot-10 Robertson, recruited to Penn State as a setter, will focus more at outside hitter this season as the Tigers install the new 5-1 offensive alignment. The frontline is becoming more comfortable with its lone full-time setter, McMahon-Regan.

“We believe what we have going right now is probably our best lineup,” Hoburg said. “But we always experiment a lot. So we’ll see.”

Robertson, the 2024 Pennsylvania MaxPreps Player of the Year, was unfazed by the early setbacks.

“Everyone has losses,” she said. “It’s important for us to not dwell on that. It’s in the past. There is nothing we can do about it anymore. … We just need to learn from our mistakes and realize why we lost and where we fell short and really focus on winning from here on out.”

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